Download Free Windows Phone 7 Emulator and Developer Tools

Straight from Microsoft

While customers will have to wait for the Windows Phone 7 Series until the end of this year, the first iteration of the development resources for the mobile platform are already available for download. A Community Technology Preview of Windows Phone Developer Tools is now up for grabs, completely free of charge via the Microsoft Download Center. The download offers the necessary development platform and tools for devs to start building applications for Windows Phone 7.

It is critical to note that the Windows Phone Developer Tools CTP is designed to be compatible exclusively with Visual Studio 2010 RC. At the same time, the software giant emphasized that the tools offered support only for “Windows Vista (x86 and x64) ENU with Service Pack 2 – all editions except Starter Edition and Windows 7 (x86 and x64) ENU – all editions except Starter Edition.”

“I'm pleased to announce that the Windows Phone developer tools are now available for anyone to download on the Web. This includes Visual Studio 2010 for Windows Phone, Expression Blend 4 for Windows Phone, as well as the XNA Games Studio 4 for Windows Phone. All of these are available for free, not just now but forever, and enable you to build these types of experiences that you just saw here today. And you can go to developer.windowsphone.com, and download it today,” Scott Guthrie, corporate vice president, .NET Developer Platform, stated.

Developers that will start building Windows Phone 7 apps with the Windows Phone Developer Tools CTP will need a computer with at least 3 GB of free disk space on the system drive, a minimum of 2 GB RAM and a DirectX 10 or later graphics card. The DirectX 10 card and an associated WDDM 1.1 driver are necessary for support of the GPU acceleration on Windows Phone Emulator.

“So, hopefully some excitement here in terms of what you can build, the types of next generation experiences that you can deliver. We're really excited to spend this week getting a chance to work with you and talk with you, get your feedback, and talk about all the possibilities. I'd like to thank everyone for coming here this week and taking time out of your busy schedule. We really hope you enjoy the conference. Welcome to MIX. Thank you,” Guthrie added, closing the day-one MIX10 keynote address.